Urban exploration is fraught with many hazards. There’s the obvious danger of being caught, but the buildings themselves harbor many risks as well- which is why I always explore sober and with plenty of light, and very rarely go solo (but when I do I tell someone where I’m going and when I’ll check in with them to let them know I’m okay). By keeping my wits about me I’ve managed to avoid major injury- sure I’ve gotten a few cuts, scrapes, and bruises, and there was that one time I was crouched under a jagged piece of metal, stood up without looking and sliced my scalp open. It bled like hell but wasn’t serious, thankfully.

Probably the most common (and dangerous) risk explorers encounter is bad floors, which you see in this photo here. When water penetrates a decaying building it’ll absolutely decimate the structure of the place as it rots wood, rusts metal, and freezes inside cracked concrete, driving the crack open like a wedge. I’m always vigilant about bad floors and have never fallen, but I know of many people who have. At best you’ll just put one leg through and catch yourself before falling, at worst you’ll go all the way through and possibly break bones or even end up dead.

This photo is from an abandoned china factory. The building is nearly 100 years old and has been abandoned since 1992. It’s a really amazing spot, as the company owners didn’t actually plan to permanently shut down. Thus, everything was left in place. All the machinery, all the tools, and the icing on the cake- thousands of molds, still stacked in their wooden shelves. The mold area isn’t for the faint of heart, though- the wooden floors are like Swiss cheese. All parts require extreme caution, most are completely inaccessible like the area pictured above.